Telly With Melly for June 1: Life Below Zero, Scripps National Spelling Bee

Plus, Jimmy Kimmel Live: Game Night returns

Focusing on folks who inhabit notoriously inhabitable areas, Life Below Zero visits Alaska on Thursday. Hardy fella Glenn Villeneuve lives in a one-room cabin with no running water. His only fuel for heating and cooking is the firewood he chops with an axe, and he uses electricity for just a few items, including a satellite phone, headlamp and camera.

“I’ve always been independent, and I really like the autonomy of being able to live in the wilderness by myself … It’s exciting to learn new skills and practise them,” Villeneuve told The Asian Age.

“I also think the connection to nature is more real — I’d rather wake up in the morning and look out and see an owl in a nest, than look at it on TV. It’s been really rewarding for me, even if there’s a lot of work involved.”

Villeneuve, who moved to Alaska from Vermont in 2000, also spoke about the loneliness that can haunt the bush.

“I’ve been lonely. Once I went for four months without even seeing another human being! I don’t like that kind of isolation, but I put up with it because I wanted the other experiences,” he said.

“I do have a family now in Fairbanks, I have three children, and I’m about to have the fourth. Sometimes, my family comes to the bush with me. Humans are definitely not meant to live alone.

Life Below Zero is now airing its seventh season on Travel + Escape.

Sit for a spell

The Scripps National Spelling Bee wraps its 90th year, with the final rounds broadcast Thursday on TSN. Part 1 airs earlier in the day. Part 2 airs later.

Initially, 11 million students aged between six and 15 were in the race. But by the time the event hit Maryland, the field was down to 291.

“What started as a quaint contest with nine students has flourished into a national treasure where hard work is recognized and rewarded, and the lessons learned can last a lifetime,” said executive director Paige Kimble.

Last year, Jairam Hathwar won with the word Feldenkrais (a type of exercise therapy) and Nihar Janga won with the word Gesellschaft (describing social relations based on impersonal ties).

Game on!

For the 10th year running, ABC and TSN will broadcast Jimmy Kimmel Live: Game Night. Special episodes will air during prime time each night of the NBA Finals beginning on Thursday. In addition to marquee guests — including Kevin Hart, Robert Downey Jr., Will Ferrell, Owen Wilson, Jamie Foxx, Billy Crystal and Snoop Dogg — viewers can expect a Mean Tweets: NBA Edition segment and a celebrity three-point challenge.